Displacement rates of mountain slope deformations that can affect entire valley mountain flanks are often measured spatially distributed in‐situ without spatial significance. The spatially explicit measurement and recording of time series of slope deformations is a challenge, as the unstable slopes are often disintegrated into several subdomains, which move with different deformation rates. The ...

The deglaciation history and Holocene environmental evolution of northern Wijdefjorden, Svalbard, are reconstructed using sediment cores and acoustic data (multibeam swath bathymetry and sub‐bottom profiler data). Results reveal that the fjord mouth was deglaciated prior to 14.5±0.3 cal. ka BP and deglaciation occurred stepwise. Biomarker analyses show rapid variations in water temperature and sea ...

In the SW Barents Sea, Devonian–Carboniferous collapse led to the formation of major basins and faults, e.g., the Hammerfest Basin bounded by the Troms–Finnmark Fault Complex, and rhomboid- to sigma-shaped (half-)grabens on the Finnmark Platform. High-resolution aeromagnetic and bathymetry data from the shallow shelf show that analogue fault systems are present in coastal and onshore areas of NW ...

Active methane seepage occurs congruent with a high density of up to 1 km-wide and 35 m deep seafloor craters (>100 craters within 700 km² area) within lithified sedimentary rocks in the northern Barents Sea. The crater origin has been hypothesized to be related to rapid gas hydrate dissociation and methane release around 15–12 ka BP, but the geological setting that enabled and possibly ...

A site at the gas hydrate stability limit was investigated offshore northwestern Svalbard to study methane transport in sediment. The site was characterized by chemosynthetic communities (sulfur bacteria mats, tubeworms) and gas venting. Sediments were sampled with in situ porewater collectors and by gravity coring followed by analyses of porewater constituents, sediment and carbonate geochemistry, ...

In order to study the mutual effect of deformation and mineral reactions, we have conducted shear experiments on fine-grained plagioclase-pyroxene assemblages in a Griggs-type solid-medium deformation apparatus. Experiments were performed at a constant shear strain rate of 10⁻⁵ s⁻¹, a confining pressure of 1 GPa and temperatures of 800, 850 and 900 °C. While the peak stress of ...

Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) by methanotrophic archaea is an important sink of this greenhouse gas in marine sediments. However, evidence for AOM in freshwater habitats is rare, and little is known about the pathways, electron acceptors, and microbes involved. Here, we show that AOM occurs in anoxic sediments of a sulfate‐rich lake in southern Switzerland (Lake Cadagno). Combined AOM‐rate ...

The Lomfjorden Fault Zone in the eastern part of Spitsbergen is one of the prominent structures in Svalbard oriented parallel to the continental margin of the Barents Shelf. It consists of a network of three N–S-striking major faults (Veteranen, Lomfjorden, and Agardhbukta faults), two N–S-striking reverse faults (Lomfjella and Bjørnfjellet reverse faults), and a number of NE–SW- and NNW–SSE-striking ...

Iceland’s periglacial realm is one of the most dynamic on the planet, with active geomorphologicalprocesses and high weathering rates of young bedrock resulting in high sediment yields and ongoingmass movement. Permafrost is discontinuous in Iceland’s highlands and mountains over c. 800 m a.s.l,and sporadic in palsa mires in the central highlands. During the late Pleistocene and Holocene, ...

Better understanding of deglacial meltwater pulses (MWPs) is imperative for future predictions of human-induced warming and abrupt sea-level change because of their potential for catastrophic damage. However, our knowledge of the second largest meltwater pulse MWP-1B that occurred shortly after the start of the Holocene interglacial remains very limited. Here, we studied fossil ostracods as ...